We’re T-minus five days from one of the biggest primary days of the year. As of Wednesday morning, some fairly big-name candidates are going home in defeat.

The top of my list for races to watch on Tuesday are the California Republican Senate primaries (Carly Fiorina vs. Chuck DeVore vs. Tom Campbell), the Nevada Republican Senate primary (Sue Lowden vs. Jerry Tarkanian vs. Sharron Angle), and the South Carolina governor’s race (Nikki Haley vs. Andre Bauer vs. Henry McMaster vs. Gresham Barrett).

Just a bit behind those on the drama scale are the Arkansas Democratic Senate runoff (Blanche Lincoln vs. Bill Halter), the California GOP gubernatorial primary (Meg Whitman vs. Steve Poizner), and a hard-fought GOP House primary close to my home in Virginia (Keith Fimian vs. Pat Herrity).

The states that have primaries or runoffs include Arkansas, California, Iowa, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Virginia. In addition, Georgia’s 9th congressional district holds its special-election runoff between two Republicans, Tom Graves and Lee Hawkins.

It’s almost enough to distract the nation’s capital from the major league debut of Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg.